podcast friday

[sabotabby]

 Hi I am very tired.

Give a listen to Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff's entire last few weeks, which has been about the alter-globalization movement, but especially to this week's episodes, "Bread and Puppet: The Dawn of Giant Protest Puppets." (Part I | Part II). This is one of my special interests, stemming from how I used to teach at a puppetry camp, and I've actually been lucky enough to visit Bread and Puppet in Vermont on a road trip, albeit not quite lucky enough to see one of their shows. I am always in favour of more theatricality in activism and these episodes trace the evolution of one particular brand of theatricality that I'm especially a fan of.

I bet you will be surprised to learn that the personal stories of the two founders of the theatre are also especially interesting. Also, since Jamie Loftus is the guest, there is a tragic hot dog connection.

Comments

[greylock]

which has been about the alter-globalization movement

Charlie Kirk: complains about globalization, uses the American spelling. CURIOUS.

:P

how I used to teach at a puppetry camp

Way to bury the lead (or lede, for Americans).
As far as I know, I had no idea you were a *pause* Puppet Master.

You are probably bringing SOCIALISM to Earth.

(No joke, aside from the Muppets et al, the greatest puppet thing I've seen is a stage show of The Hobbit. It did in 90 minutes what the films did not do in 900 minutes)

I bet you will be surprised to learn that the personal stories of the two founders of the theatre are also especially interesting. Also, since Jamie Loftus is the guest, there is a tragic hot dog connection.

I am surprised at all of that.

[sabotabby]

Maybe I'll do an entry at some point about my puppet camp memories. But you know, that's way down in the queue.

[greylock]

You may have mentioned it in the past.
It's such a niche thing. Especially as a writer, artist and educator, even at your advanced age. :P

I joke. I've done ONE THING since '94.

(We have the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre)

[rachelmanija]

It should Zoom to the top.

[selki]

the greatest puppet thing I've seen is a stage show of The Hobbit

That sounds great! I saw an amazing stage show of *The Lathe of Heaven* in DC in 2018 which used puppets and props to great effect. Le Guin had endorsed the adaptation, but didn't live to see it, alas. https://dctheatrescene.com/2018/01/26/natsu-onoda-power-adaptation-ursula-le-guins-lathe-heaven/

[sabotabby]

Oh wow, that sounds incredible.

[greylock]

It was great. Arguably the best puppets live I have seen. My ex the soundtrack and the poster, so I can probably uncover the deets my random search did not.

I went to see Lathe and, cannot find it in my library, BUT if it is the story I think, how do they deal with the rain?

[selki]

I don't remember rain in the play or book, but I haven't re-read the story since 2020-ish, so I could be forgetting. Their portrayal of events was imaginative and playful, with a mix of cheap props (e.g., an old-school overhead projector and a spaceship dangled on a string) and college student theater "ninjas" moving things around. Unless someone has a bootleg vid, I don't think it was filmed. I went and saw another play by the same producer/adapter (the woman in the review I linked), about Vietnamese immigrants in the USA, and it was good, but not as stratospherically good as Lathe. So much heart and wonder.

There is a movie and a mini-series production of Lathe of Heaven, but I remember the movie being poor, and I haven't seen the mini-series (BBC maybe).

[sonia]

Wow, this sounds like it was an amazing production. Wish I had seen it.

Ursula K Le Guin lived in Portland OR, where it famously rains a lot, but the sun does shine sometimes. In one of the scenes in the book, reality has shifted so it is eternally drizzling. It's only mentioned in passing, but as someone who has lived in Portland, that stuck with me because it would be dreadful to have everything be damp and never see the sun.

[selki]

Oh yes, thanks. I think the screens (they had multiple individually-controlled monitors as windows/outdoors/scenery) would change to show the outdoors, newsbreaks, etc. and they probably showed the rain rain rain.

And there's always Ray Bradbury's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Summer_in_a_Day .

[greylock]

<3 for Bradbury.
That story feels so triggering, though/ It is the very vibe of childhood bullies in my day.

[selki]

Oh yes, it's a horror story.

[greylock]

I think some things are better in the memory than our era of revisiting things on whim.
Maybe.

[blogcutter]

Puppetry in general is definitely cool and not just a niche thing or a kids' thing in my book! I have fond memories dating back to watching Friendly Giant & Chez Hélene as a small child, through to Sesame Street/Park and Fraggle Rock and all the Muppets.

In Grade 7 art class, we actually got to make marionettes. Mine was something of a disaster, but some of my classmates came up with some truly amazing creations.

In Almonte, just west of Ottawa, there's always been an annual Puppetsup festival, though I'm not sure they'll still have it now that Noreen Young has died. There was always a kind of alternative festival alongside it, with street performers doing suitably subversive things:

https://puppetsup.com/street-performers/

[sabotabby]

That looks like it rules.

I made marionettes with my students last year. It was more time-consuming than I hoped but I'd do it again.

[mistersmearcase]

I used to sing Georgian music with the daughter of the guy (one of the guys?) who founded Bread and Puppet.

[sabotabby]

They mention Sacred Harp briefly!